What will your broker charge in January?
The Vorabpauschale hits every accumulating fund. This calculator applies the two rules most calculators skip: the cap at the year's value increase and the pro-rata rule in the year of purchase.
An estimate based on your inputs, not a tax assessment. Your broker's statement is what counts.
€672.00 Vorabpauschale, but tax-free: your allowance covers it.
The amount counts as received on the first business day of the following year.
Vorabpauschale
€672.00
Tax
€0.00
Allowance left
€529.60
| BasisertragValue at start of year × 70% of the base rate (3.2% for 2026) | €672.00 |
|---|---|
| Capdoes not apply | €3,000.00 |
| Distributions | − €0.00 |
| Vorabpauschale | €672.00 |
| Partial exemption | − €201.60 |
| Sparer-Pauschbetrag | − €470.40 |
| Tax | €0.00 |
The three rules
Why the Vorabpauschale is often smaller than feared
Three statutory limits that rules of thumb regularly drop.
No gain, no tax
The Basisertrag is capped at the difference between the first and last redemption price of the year plus distributions (section 18 InvStG). A fund that lost value triggers no Vorabpauschale at all.
Pro rata in the year of purchase
One twelfth drops off for every full month before the month of purchase. Buy in July and you pay half; buy in December and you pay one twelfth.
Exemption and allowance
Equity ETFs keep 30% of the Vorabpauschale tax-free anyway, and the rest eats into the Sparer-Pauschbetrag first. Smaller portfolios often owe nothing.
Frequently asked
Understanding the Vorabpauschale
An annual minimum taxation for funds that distribute little or nothing. Since an accumulating ETF pays out no cash that could be taxed, the state assumes a minimum return — the Basisertrag — and taxes it in advance. Amounts already taxed are deducted when you finally sell, so nothing is taxed twice.
It counts as received on the first business day of the following year, so German brokers usually debit the tax in January from the cash account. If there is not enough cash, the broker may sell shares or report the charge to the tax office — which is why it pays to keep some cash there in December.
3.20%. The federal finance ministry sets it every year from the yield on long-term public bonds on the first trading day of the year. Only 70% of it enters the formula.
Not with a German broker — it handles the tax for you. With a foreign broker it belongs in Anlage KAP. Keep the annual tax statement: when you eventually sell you will need the total of the Vorabpauschale amounts already taxed.
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